German auction house pulls 26 'Hitler paintings' on forgery fears

A German auction house Thursday scrapped the planned sale of 26 artworks attributed to Adolf Hitler, after doubts emerged about their authenticity just days before they were to go under the hammer.

A German auction house Thursday scrapped the planned sale of 26 artworks attributed to Adolf Hitler, after doubts emerged about their authenticity just days before they were to go under the hammer.

Five other paintings signed "A. Hitler", all of them watercolours, will still be auctioned off on Saturday as scheduled, according to the Weidler auction house in the southern city of Nuremberg.

A vase, wicker armchair and table cloth presumed to have belonged to the late Nazi dictator also remain on offer in what Weidler has billed a "special auction".

"Unfortunately we must inform you that some of the pictures have been dropped because of a review," the auction house said in a statement.

The move came after prosecutors on Wednesday collected 63 artworks from the Weidler premises bearing the signature "A.H." or "A. Hitler", over suspicions the works were not created by Hitler himself.

Twenty-six of them -- a selection of watercolours, oil paintings and sketches -- had been advertised for Saturday's auction. They included mainly depictions of buildings and nature scenes but also several female nudes.

Sales of alleged artworks by Hitler, who for a time tried to make a living as an artist in his native Austria, have long been controversial -- and have often proved to involve fakes over the years.

Just last month German police seized three watercolours presented as Hitler's works before they were due for auction in Berlin, claiming they were forged.

The Alpine and Rhenish landscapes were dated 1910 and 1911. They were signed A. Hitler and offered by auction house Kloss.

- Armchair swastikas -

The Nuremberg-Fuerth prosecutor's office said it had opened an investigation against unknown persons "on suspicion of falsifying documents and attempted fraud" in connection with the pieces found at Weidler auctioneers.

Investigators will now examine the works to determine if they are fakes or originals, chief prosecutor Antje Gabriels-Gorsolke told AFP.

"If they turn out to be fakes, we will then try to determine who knew what in the chain of ownership," she said.